> John> <insert text>To install in the default locations (under
> John> /usr/local) this will normally mean you have to be root. If you
> John> are not installing as root you will need to specify installation
> John> directories for which you have write permission. </insert>
>
> This text is simply not true on all systems.
Would anything be true on all systems?!
> I have write access to
> /usr/local on our machines because this is how we setup our filesystem
> permissions. The proposed text above, while being true for some sites,
> will cause serious concerns on other sides. A package which insists to
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> be installed root is always a bit suspect if it does not have very
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> good reasons to do so.
Agreed: that's why I tried to (and would have preferred to) install as
non-root, and was confused that I seemed to have to be root to install,
and then got a message that I would have to be root to do make sinstall.
OTOH having installed many other bits of s/w I've got used to the
procedure:
./configure as user
make as user
make install as root
It was even that way for Tcl and Tk so I assumed the same for Scotty.
> John> ... and voila! it works!! (chmod -R a+rX /usr/local/lib/*)
>
> [This is a very drastic as you make blindly all files readable, which
> might be correct, but some exceptions might exist somewhere in
> /usr/local/lib/*]
Agreed also: I didn't want to have to do that.
> This is most likely a problem of the umask value under your root
> account. There is nothing we can do to protect people from using a
> narrow masks and later not being able to read the files.
(Doug Hughes also mentioned the umask)
Surely root should have a narrow umask, for security? You don't,
generally, want users to be able to read root's files - ?
Could the install script set an appropriate umask? Or, failing that, how
about a note in the readme about setting the umask to get the right file
permissions?
> This is UNIX,
> a bit complicated at the beginning. But once you did learn all these
> lessons, you will love it. ;-)
Oh I do already! ;-) It's just that I'm supposed to (i.e. being paid to)
manage the network, not learn Unix!
> You, like everybody else, are happily invited to submit text for the
> FAQ document so that others can learn from your experiences. ;-)
How about something like this in the README?:
<insert text>To install in the default locations (under /usr/local) on
most|many systems you have to be root (although only the ntping and straps
programs actually have to be installed with root permissions). To ensure
files installed by root are readable set umask to 022 before doing make
install. If you do not have (or do not want to use) root
permission to install in the default locations then you can set
alternative installation locations ...</insert>
??
This sort of info -- perhaps with a longer discussion of the pros and cons
of installing as root or not - might be useful in the FAQ too.
Anyway I hope some of this may help the next person who wants to set up
Tcl/Tk/Scotty and knows as little as I do :-)
regards,
--
John Stumbles j.d.stumbles@reading.ac.uk
Computer Services, University of Reading http://www.rdg.ac.uk/~suqstmbl
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